Fortune's Prince - Allison Leigh (HSE #2335 - June 2014)

Series: Fortunes of Texas: Welcome to Horseback Hollow (Book 6)

Once upon a time...

There was a beautiful princess, raised in riches but lonely of heart. When Amelia Fortune Chesterfield discovered her Texas roots, she hurried to Horseback Hollow, eager to find her past.

And there she found her future....

The prince wore spurs and a Stetson and was unlike any man she had ever known. In one magical night, Quinn Drummond transformed the shy, reserved girl into a passionate, feeling woman. But in the morning, the princess had to flee, tearing asunder their happily ever after. The prince, in his anger, retreated. Would a small miracle reunite the gun-shy cowboy with his lady love?

A fantastic, emotional conclusion to this year's Fortune series. Amelia is the youngest of the British branch of the newly discovered Fortunes. When she came to Texas to meet her new cousins she was immediately taken with their neighbor Quinn Drummond. His quiet strength and down to earth attitude really appeal to her. A dance at a wedding leads to a passionate encounter and a whole host of dreams. But when she had to return home she was blindsided by reporters claiming an engagement to a friend of hers and she was soon caught in an impossible situation. Quinn wouldn't take her calls or listen to her explain what was going on, so she had to take drastic measures.

I really liked Amelia. I found her to be a really strong, determined woman who wants to do the right thing. Because of who she is, she didn't just deny things outright to the reporters, but that put her into a situation where the engagement appears to be real. She had briefly considered going through with it, as she and James are friends, but once she discovered her pregnancy she knew it couldn't happen. She also wanted to tell Quinn face to face, hoping that they would be able to work things out. I loved her ingenuity in getting away from the reporters and making her way undetected to Quinn's ranch. She was devastated to find out just how angry he is and how unwilling to listen to anything she has to say. 

Quinn had thought that what he and Amelia shared meant something to her, but hearing of her engagement when she returned to England brought back terrible memories of his ex-wife. She had left him to go back to her old boyfriend, leaving him doubting his judgment in picking a woman to love. To have Amelia appear to do the same thing just made it worse. When she came back to see him he didn't want to hear what she had to say, not trusting her at all. When he finds out about the baby he wants them to marry, making sure that the baby has his name. Quinn's father had been illegitimate, never acknowledged by his father and he didn't want the same thing to happen to his child. Quinn also has a huge issue with the economic gap between himself and Amelia, again because of his grandfather's treatment of his father. He just couldn't see that Amelia didn't care about it.

Amelia is deeply in love with Quinn and would gladly marry him if she thought that he cared also. His constant anger with her has her convinced he doesn't care for her and she refuses to have a loveless marriage. She is also determined to stay in Texas so that Quinn is fully involved in the baby's life. I loved the strength she had in standing up for herself and her own needs, while at the same time trying to give Quinn what he needed.

Quinn is fighting quite a battle with himself. He wants Amelia with every breath he takes, but he refuses to believe that they have any chance of a future together. He is so hung up on their differences that he can't see how right they are for each other. I loved the way that he is so protective of her, even though he resists admitting the reason. It was great to see how many people tried to get him to see the truth. 

Besides the emotional trials of Quinn and Amelia working their way towards a happy future together, there were also some really fun parts. These usually involved the paparazzi and trying to get away from them. The first one that had me laughing out loud was when Quinn's sister helped Amelia get away at the hardware store. Jess was really getting into the whole thing. The other one was at Quinn's house when he went after them with his shotgun. Amelia was horrified, but Quinn was determined to protect her no matter what.